“It’s always very tough” – Reinier de Ridder sharpening his striking as rematch with KO artist Anatoly Malykhin looms

Reinier de Ridder has been putting in a lot of work behind closed doors to make sure he retains his ONE middleweight MMA world title at ONE 166: Qatar.

On March 1, ‘The Dutch Knight’ will meet a familiar adversary in two-division MMA kingpin Anatoly Malykhin inside Lusail Sports Arena in ONE’s debut event in the Middle East.

With 11 of his 16 career wins coming by submission, Reinier de Ridder is considered one of the best ground specialists in MMA today.

However, Malykhin gave ‘RDR’ a rude awakening in their first meeting at ONE on Prime Video 5 in 2022, where he took away his undefeated record and light heavyweight belt with a brutal knockout.

A year removed from that stinging loss, de Ridder has been sharpening his striking skills to ensure he won’t suffer the same fate in their do-over.

The 33-year-old Dutchman shared in an interview with the world’s largest martial arts organization:

“I’ve been doing a lot of my striking work at Hemmers. I’ve done this in the past, but not as consistently and not as much focused on it as I have right now. It’s always very tough to go there.”

ONE 166: Qatar will air live on March 1 via global pay-per-view on watch.onefc.com.

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Reinier de Ridder learned his lesson after devastating setback against Anatoly Malykhin

Despite the horrific outcome of his last meeting with the Russian brawler, Reinier de Ridder remains upbeat about his chances.

After all, he’s not the type to make the same mistakes twice and won’t fall into the same trap as last time.

‘The Dutch Knight’ told ONE that he’ll negate the double champ’s crushing power and stick to what he does best, which is choking people out:

“I know where my strengths lie in this one. I know where I can do what I do best. It’s just a matter of time before I get those openings. As long as I stay safe, I’m going to find his neck eventually.”